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Integrated Marketing – what you need to know

Don’t dismiss this hip new buzzword as it signals a revolution in marketing strategy. As digital advertising overtakes print and ‘going viral’ can make or break a career, a product or a politician, big businesses are demanding more – and integrated marketing delivers.

The iPhone is quite probably the most profitable product in human history, according to fact-checking BBC programme More or Less. This is no doubt thanks to Apple’s integrated marketing strategy and intense branding drive. Across every platform and every ad, from a billboard in Bahrain to Facebook ads in Philadelphia, Apple products are presented in the same way making them instantly recognisable. While the glamour of a billion-dollar ad campaign might be hard to recreate for a small Portsmouth business, the marketing principles behind the campaign can be replicated, giving any business a little taste of Apple’s success.

What makes integrated marketing different?

High accountability

Targeted campaigns

Cross-platform marketing

Deliberate project evolution

Integrated marketing works because it sees all marketing activities as part of the same campaign. Print ads, online marketing, Facebook pages, competitions in magazines, Tweets, YouTube videos and Google ads are all managed as part of the same budget and subject to the same analysis and improvement cycle.

By insisting on data-driven campaigns, at boxChilli we’re able to punch above our weight. History is full of obvious truths that turned out to be false. Just as small children learn that the sun doesn’t go around the earth, by analysing campaigns as they run we learn surprising truths and can adjust our course accordingly.

5 financial advantages of integrated marketing

Avoid duplication

Unified budget

Improved ROI

Fewer wasted resources

Less time wasted

The harsh truth is that even ‘free’ advertising, such as social media campaigns, costs money as it takes time, attention and brain power to run.To just hit share a few times a day, a user will be reading and assessing dozens or hundreds of messages, which can take hours. All too often this time is wasted, generating not leads or sales, yet no cost-benefit analysis is done as it’s ‘free’.

Integrated marketing treats every possible channel as a marketing channel, and demands high accountability for time and money spent. Online advertising and social media provide detailed data sets which allow campaigns to be refined as they run.

By listening to the data and experimenting, rather than making assumptions, boxChilli are able to create effective campaigns that have a strong return on investment (ROI). The invoice break down might not be as simple as the traditional print media advertising bills, but the efficiency is far higher.

Apple, Coca-Cola and Ferrari do it – now you can too

Across every platform, every ad campaign, every Tweet and billboard, the most successful big brands present a unified vision of their product or services. Coca-Cola sell 1.9 billion servings of the fizzy drink each day, and are present in 200 countries. As a contrast, the UN has just 193 member states.

The Coca-Cola Company estimate that 94% of the world’s population recognise their red and white logo. We can’t promise you that level of coverage, but we can use the same tools that make the giants great to improve your company’s profits, profile and market share.